


Last, Like the First

by L0NE



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Act 5 spoilers, F/M, a whoooooooole lot of kissing, just a whole lot of kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 12:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15437193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L0NE/pseuds/L0NE
Summary: The last time they kissed, it was somehow like the first; that sweet feeling of excitement still bubbling over as they touched, with a smidge of embarrassment still making the two of them blush like mad.Berkut assumed that was what true love felt like, love you could only find in fairytales because of how pure it was— feelings so strong that they feel just as fresh as the first time they surfaced.





	Last, Like the First

The last time they kissed, it was somehow like the first; that sweet feeling of excitement still bubbling over as they touched, with a smidge of embarrassment still making the two of them blush like mad. 

 

Berkut assumed that was what true love felt like, love you could only find in fairytales because of how pure it was— feelings so strong that they feel just as fresh as the first time they surfaced. Though the circumstances were far from the same as their first time now, Berkut still relished in the moment, and he hoped Rinea did, too.

 

It was hard to tell with her form being one of flame now, but he could see the smallest and sweetest of smiles on her lips.

 

The two stood in Duma’s temple, inches away from the altar Berkut had just used mere moments ago, just simply holding each other without words. They had rather a lot of time to themselves as they waited for Alm’s arrival, an arrival foretold to them by Duma once the two had awakened to his power— and so they decided to wait for him in a place where they had the high ground. In the meantime, there was nothing wrong with what they were currently doing. Bodies sticking close together, heads brushing for the occasional kiss, being the only two around; it was heaven. 

 

Berkut took the time to reflect on the fact that Rinea was still more beautiful and holier looking than the gods. She defied the world with her beauty, he thought; but he had always thought such a thing, now it was just so much more apparent. All the witches he had seen before were hideous, corpse-looking women, yet Rinea was a whole other level of gorgeous. Even as a witch, she was still breathtaking, and most importantly, still his. 

 

Rinea had been silent ever since the two were alone together, but she still seemed content with the situation. She had pressed her chest to Berkut’s back and put her chin on his shoulder, holding onto him tightly from behind, as if she would stop hovering in the air with her Duma-given powers if she let go. Despite her current body being of coal and burning fire, Berkut felt no pain from the heat that cracked from her arms, nor her hair made of flame that gently brushed against him from time to time.

 

Instead, all he felt was her comforting warmth and pure, unbridled passion. “Rinea, you are an absolute marvel.” Berkut remarked as he kissed her cheek, and she leaned into the kiss, soundless once again.

 

She was so warm he could melt into her there, and, though he wouldn’t before he slayed Alm, he wouldn’t mind doing that after. He thought of the occasion with a wild glint in his eye— a lance through the boy's heart, Rinea watching as Berkut took the right to the throne by means of murder, the two lovingly ruling over all of Valentia for the rest of their eternity together. 

 

He had wanted to go find Alm himself just to make it all happen sooner, but Rinea had pulled him back from leaving when he tried, insisting with her body language that he should wait for the fight to come to him. Rinea was a smart girl, and she had the same knowledge from Duma as he did, so Berkut knew she was right— the altar area they were in was perfect for holding battle, and Berkut was just too excited. It would be perfect then, when the time came.

 

Everything would be perfect. 

 

So he could wait a little bit longer, he promised her.

 

In the meantime, as they waited and held each other, he’d been pecking at her cheek with bits of affection, running his hand through her hair with a content sigh as he did so. Every touch sent his heart flying high in the sky, no matter how small, and he loved it. 

 

Though, as time dragged on, there was a question still in the back of his mind that was burning to be answered, so after he had kissed her for a long while, he looked up and asked, “Rinea, my love… When Alm comes, would you join me? I know you do not have a taste for violence, but I would like you around.”

 

Rinea remained still, and Berkut held his breath. It would be alright for her not to want to be there, he didn’t want to push her. She must have been tired from everything that had happened today. Still though, if he could see her rip apart the Deliverance… He would do anything to see that. Just imagining it— his beloved killing any bastard that opposed him, smiting them with the magic she had been given— it burned a fire inside him, one different from his other desires of conquest.

 

He focused immediately when Rinea rest her head on his shoulder, making no sound. 

 

When she nodded, his entire world twirled with euphoria. 

 

Berkut spun around then, getting out of her grasp and startling her for a second before he adorned her with kisses up front. They were light at first, little pecks that he put on her lips, cheeks, and forehead, laughing as he did so, her now rougher skin heating up underneath his lips. She would be by his side. She would be there. His heart was singing at just the thought of it all as he repeated it in his head, and he began to remove his lips less and less frequently from her.

 

Like the fire from the altar behind them, Berkut’s desire continued to grow. Before he realized it, he had Rinea tilted over as she floated in the air, hungrily pressing his lips to hers as if she was the only thing keeping him alive. Her lips were still soft, still sweet like they always were, and he wanted to drink it in as much as he could. With every breath he had to stop to take he cursed himself, and he would return to her not a second later with even more vigor than before. Every tender jolt she would produce while he kissed her had him wishing he could hear her voice just one more time so he could hear the sounds she would make under him. 

 

Perhaps he was being too bold when he thought things like that, though he didn’t care— he wanted to love her so badly in this moment that he nearly forgot why the two of them were there in the first place. He gently cupped her face in his hands and hummed as she spread her lips under him, allowing him to fall deeper and deeper into her, and he did just that. He abandoned even the idea of breathing, and only focused on how sweet Rinea tasted.

 

Berkut briefly thought of all the times they had kissed while they were weak, while they hadn’t known Duma. How eager she was to give him one to cheer him up after a long day, how she would hold him as she slept and not let go unless he had kissed her, there were so many occasions that Berkut couldn’t possibly remember them all. But even if he couldn’t, he turned the thought over in his head that none of those could ever compare to this moment right now. 

 

Kissing right before his victory— this was the highest of highs. 

 

“Oh, Rinea…!” He pulled away and sighed, and Rinea put a hand over her mouth to hide a soundless laugh, her habit of covering her mouth to be polite remaining even after death. She was clearly teasing him for how swept up he was, but he thought of her play-mockery as cute more than anything else. She slipped out of his grasp and continued to hover above him for a moment, before sinking lower to the ground and pointing to it.

 

Berkut grinned, noticing she was more or less kneeling in front of him, and decided to tease her,  “What? You want me to take you in front of this altar? Goodness, Rinea, I had no idea you had such desires.” He asked, and his beloved’s eyes widened so much he thought her eyes would fall out of her head for a moment. She pointed to the floor repeatedly then, waving her hands furiously at it until Berkut took the cue from her to sit down, a laugh in his throat.

 

She then sat in his lap without any warning, wrapping both her legs around him, then placing her hands on his chest. 

 

It was when she stared up at him expectantly that he was really sent over the edge. 

 

Berkut leaned forward, “Maybe I’ll take you after this, then. Overlooking the remains of that ‘Deliverance’.” He remarked, and before she could react, his lips crashed down against hers once more.

 

She was too lovable for him to resist, he concluded then. The way her eyes fluttered, the way her body pressed to his, hell, the way she would breathe was enough to make him excited. “I love you, I love you so much…” Berkut breathed, moving his lips onto her neck as he held her now, the affection making his head swim with pleasure, “Really, I truly do love you, Rinea.” 

 

She couldn’t return his feelings verbally, so instead she kissed the side of his head, leaving her cheek pressed against where she had kissed him like a cat snuggling a human.

 

“I’m so glad, Rinea… I’m so glad you’re here with me.” He whispered into her. If she still had human skin, she would have marks adorning her neck from how Berkut was kissing her now. “I’m so glad.” Maybe that was something he could fix. Maybe if he sacrificed Alm after he killed him, he could ask Duma for Rinea to have human skin once more. If she could, he would leave marks everywhere he could. With his power he had now, everything was beneath him, rules and stuffy tradition where public affection was shamed being one of those things.

 

When the two of them were Emperor and Empress, nothing could stop them.

 

Running that concept through his mind again made Berkut shiver with anticipation, and he pressed himself hard against Rinea, who let out a soundless noise, tightening herself around him harder. 

  
  
  


Empress Rinea. Empress Rinea. Empress Rinea—

  
  
  


As if on cue, Rinea immediately froze in Berkut’s arms. Berkut lifted his head to look at her, though she wasn’t looking at him, but instead the entrance to the area they were in.

 

Listening to something.

 

Footsteps.

 

Alm’s army was approaching.

 

Berkut clicked his teeth at the interruption. “We’ll continue this atop his corpse, for all I care.” He scowled, scooping Rinea up with him off the floor as he stood. Once he was on his feet and steady, Rinea flew out of his arms and landed in the air behind Berkut, putting an arm to his back and anchoring herself there. “You’re going to stay behind me for the time being? You do realize you’re stronger than these worms, don’t you?” Berkut asked, but Rinea only put herself closer to him, not nodding nor shaking her head.

 

He grinned at that. Even if she was more powerful than the enemies they would face, she was still nervous. It was adorable, really. He’d accept it for now, knowing she’d get properly invested in the slaughter once it started.

 

Satisfied with the situation, Berkut decided to prepare himself for the fight as well, sticking out his hand and calling forth the power he had received from Duma. His lance materialized then, a veil of red glow now shining over it. So he had blessed his weapon, too? That made things too easy now, Berkut thought to himself as he examined the weapon, so he’d have to go at least a little easy on Alm now to prolong his pain. To make him suffer before his men’s eyes, to make him weep and cry over his own spinelessness before he ended him. Before he drove his lance through his heart.

 

Berkut could do it. He would do it.

 

With this newfound power, he could do anything. 

 

Berkut kept telling that to himself as the footsteps got closer, 

 

the hushed voices of street rats and nobles alike becoming more defined, 

 

Berkut’s heart beginning to race as he waited for Alm to finally rear his loathsome—

  
  
  
  
  


A warmth spread itself over the sides of his face, and all thought Berkut had cut itself off.

 

The prince turned his head up to see Rinea holding him, planting a last kiss on his forehead as he looked at her. Almost instantly, those same feelings of love, nervousness, happiness, and tenderness resurfaced, just like their first kiss.

 

Rinea gave him another small smile, and Berkut grinned like a madman.

 

With her, he could do anything. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i imagine berkut’s immune to duma’s magic, meaning that he could probably actually bang witch rinea and be totally fine, which should be the plot of a fic already.
> 
> i wrote this at 1 am in one night, so forgive any mistakes. i just wanted to write some kisses


End file.
